1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a memory dialing control system used in a communication terminal such as a telephone set, in which system the telephone numbers of remote terminals have been previously registered and the thus registered telephone numbers are desired to be read out to be used for calling.
In such a system, a memory dialing procedure may be used in which the remote terminals' names and telephone numbers have been previously registered in a memory. The system provides a service in which the thus registered remote-terminal names may be searched for in an order according to the first letters in the name spellings such as the alphabetical order or the like. Inputting of the first letter in a desired remote-terminal name causes the relevant remote-terminal telephone numbers to be displayed together with the names successively. If the desired name has been displayed as the result of the thus successive displaying, the relevant telephone number may be used for the calling. A certain system such as that enables efficient use of memory dialing procedure to be effectively used.
2. Related Art
With reference to FIG. 1, a memory dialing control system in the related art is described. The system comprises a control section 31; a transmission/reception controller 32; a display/operation unit 33; and a memory 34. The memory 34 includes a memory dialing area 35 and a sort table 36. The control section includes a processor (CPU) 40; a read only memory (ROM) 41 for storing programs; a random access memory (RAM) 42 for temporarily storing various data; and interface units 43 and 44.
The control section 31 controls writing data into and reading data out from the memory dialing area 35 and produces the sort table 36 by using the contents registered in the memory dialing area 35. The control section 31 also controls the transmission/reception controller 32 via the interface unit 43 so as to send a remote-terminal telephone number when calling and respond to a call from a remote terminal either automatically or in response to an off-hook action through either the display/operation unit or a handset not shown.
The display/operation unit 33 is connected with the processor 40 via the interface unit 44. The display/operation unit 33 includes a display device such as a liquid crystal display device and an operation specification device including a ten-key keypad. The transmission/reception controller 32 is connected with a switched network via a communication line and connected with remote communication terminals via the switched network. Thus, telephone speaking and data communication are achieved.
The memory dialing area 35 registering operation is described. In one example, a remote-terminal name and telephone number pair may be input by the operator through the display/operation unit 33, the thus input name and number pair is then displayed on the display device. Then, the operator may specify the registering thereof after acknowledging them so that via the control section 31 the relevant name and number pair is written into the memory dialing area 35. Such a process may be repeated for desired remote terminals so that the plurality of relevant name and telephone number pairs are registered in the memory dialing area 35. Each name and telephone number pair has an identification number which has been given in the order in which the name and telephone number pairs have been registered. Then, the control section 31 searches the memory dialing area 35 for the thus registered names by using the first letters in the name spellings so as to produced the sort table 36.
In a case, for example where the alphabetical sort table is produced, the name having the first letter `A` is searched for. The identification number relevant to the thus retrieved name is written into the `A` area in the sort table 36. Next, the name having the first letter `B` is searched for. The identification number relevant to the thus retrieved name is written into the `B` area in the sort table 36. Such a process is executed for other letters of the alphabets so as to retrieve all the names stored in the memory dialing area 35. As a result, the identification numbers relevant to the names are stored in the sort table 36 in the alphabetical order.
After the sort table 36 has been thus produced by the processing by the control section 31, a memory dialing operation is performed as described below. The letter `A` for example is input through the display/operation unit 33 so that the system must search accordingly. The control section 1 as a result accesses the `A` area in the memory dialing area 35 so as to read the relevant identification number therefrom. The thus read identification number is used for accessing the relevant address in the memory dialing area 35 so that the relevant name and telephone number can be read and displayed on the display device of the display operation unit 33. If the operator finds that the thus displayed name does not comprise the desired one, the operator may input an instruction indicating a next candidate retrieval operation to be performed on the `A` area. As a result, the next candidate identification number is read out and the relevant name and telephone number are accordingly read out from the memory dialing area 35. The thus read name and telephone number are then displayed on the display device of the display/operation unit 33. Thus, the operator may search for the names and telephone numbers registered in the memory dialing area 35 with simple operations. Another searching manner may be applied to the search in which the registered names and telephone numbers will be displayed in the order in which they have been registered. Another searching manner may be applied to the search in which the desired name itself is input and the telephone number relevant to the thus input name is displayed as a result of determination whether the input name corresponds to a name registered in the memory dialing area 35.
After the desired name is displayed as a result of the above described processing, the operator may specify through the display/operation unit 33 an instruction for the calling operation to be performed. The control section 31 as a result transfers the telephone number currently read from the memory dialing area 35 to the transmission/reception controller 32 so as to cause the controller 32 to control the switched network so as to achieve the calling properly.
The above system eliminates an operator's manual dialing input operation of a telephone number for each communication operation by using the name-and-telephone-number search function through the previously registered relevant information concerning the remote terminals. However, problems may occur as a result of the search method. In a case where a desired name and telephone number pair is one of many entries under the same alphabetical index and the desired pair is located at a position among the entries at which the pair may be retrieved only after many other entries are searched. Thus, a considerable time may be required for the search even if the relevant desired information is frequently used. Further, if the same remote terminal is again needed for other communication, the same memory dialing process including the information search must be performed again, the relevant operation thus being cumbersome.